CULPEPER COURT-HOUSE, VA., March 24, 1864.

(Receive 2. 35 p. m.)

Honorable EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

I would respectfully suggest that the order relieving General Pleasonton from duty here, and sending him to the Department of the Missouri, be made at once. I will then direct General Meade to place the senior officer of the cavalry corps in command of it until General Sheridan arrives.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

CULPEPER COURT-HOUSE, March 24, 1864.

(Received 2. 20 p. m.

Major-General HALLECK,

Chief of Staff:

Will you please send me a map, with lines marked, showing the territory now occupied by our forces; also a copy of the returns of the army you showed me? If practicable to spare them from their present stations, three regiments of heavy artillery, one commanded by Colonel Tidball to be one of them, could be advantageously used with the Army of the Potomac.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, March 24, 1864.

Lieutenant-General GRANT,

Army of the Potomac:

GENERAL: I send herewith, by special messenger, a synopsis of last returns of the army; also a copy of the map* which we had before us the other day. The red lines show approximately our lines of defense at the beginning of the rebellion and at the present time; the blue the various proposed ways of shortening them.

Yours, truly,

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General, Chief of Staff.

IN THE FIELD, CULPEPER COURT-HOUSE, VA.,

March 24, 1864. (Received 4. 05 p. m.)

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Washington, D. C.:

I would like to have General Sigel directed to relieve Wheaton's brigade, Sixth Army Corps, and ordered here. If Terry's brigade is not absolutely needed at Sandusky I would like to have it also. According to my recollection of the forces in General Heintzelman's department, he can easily spare troops from other places to take their place.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

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*See explanatory foot-note, Vol. XXXII, Part III, p. 261.

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46 R R-VOL XXXIII